Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I still don’t understand how you get “Jet” from “Margaret.” CBRBINGO – ‘N’

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson

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This was a bit of a disappointment for me, but I still had an overall good time with it. I don’t understand why Holly Jackson keeps writing books about Americans when she is very British. (Nothing of hers has hit for me like A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.) There was also a key moment at the end of the book that was totally dumb and out of character, which I’m deducting 0.25 stars for. But the mystery was very well plotted and intricate, and […]

Cracking Open the Universe

The Egg and other stories by Andy Weir

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This was an audiobook called The Egg and Other Stories by Andy Weir. I was already familiar with The Egg — there’s a very well-known YouTube retelling of it, which my husband showed me not long before I started listening to this short collection. It’s a great listen, particularly in this moment in human history, and I’d recommend everyone look it up. 👉 The Egg – A Short Story The collection of stories here is extremely high quality overall. I really, really enjoyed them. They […]

The Bloody Chamber

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

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I recently decided to re-read The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (it was my choice for my book group). It was as fun as I remembered. Carter’s sexy takes on traditional fairy tales like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Puss in Boots” is at times over-the-top in its prose, humor, and horror – which suits her feminist takes on damsels in all sorts of distress perfectly. She delivers a great vampire tale, “The Lady of the House of Love,” too.  But I think […]

The Avoidable War. AKA The Review I Have Been Avoiding.

The Avoidable War: The Dangers of a Catastrophic War between the US and China by Kevin Rudd

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Never have I given myself so much anxiety reading a book. I first stated reading The Avoidable War late last year. The book is an examination of Sino-American relations, and what the future might hold. Kevin Rudd is Australia’s former Prime Minister, a previous Minister for Foreign Affairs, and is currently the ambassador of Australia to the United States. Prior to this though, he majored in Chinese language and history and worked for  Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT). This gives him a pretty solid background […]

“You are the queen. You are the queen that Antoinette wanted to be . . .”

Antoinette's Sister by Diana Giovinazzo

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CBR17 Bingo: Black – Behold, the cover. Though her tragic sister Marie Antoinette is better known today, Maria Carolina Charlotte, the queen of Naples, ruled with better success but faced her own share of troubles and tribulations in her years on the throne. The thing with historical fiction is that the story can live or die by the events it’s based on, especially when it follows the life of a historical figure. Luckily, Charlotte is an interesting main character. Though her attitudes toward the monarchy […]

I Wanted to Like This

Olive by Emma Gannon

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Best for: People who are childfree by choice, people who have kids but are interested in knowing a bit more about what their childfree friends’ lives are like. In a nutshell: Olive is a successful writer in her early 30s (I think) who is going through some major life changes alongside her three friends, all of whom are in various stages of trying to or having children. Worth quoting: N/A Why I chose it: I’m in a childfree community and saw people talking about this […]



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